Using The Story of God in Community
What we believe about God and what he is like will ultimately determine what we believe about ourselves and how life works. This is why it is so important that we know, understand, and believe God’s big story. How well do you know the Story of God?
This week on the Everyday Disciple Podcast, Caesar visits with a community and their pastor and discusses the ways they have been teaching the Story of God in their church, and with their neighbors. You’ll hear about the transformation that is taking place as the fuller picture of God’s overarching Story is unfolding in their lives.
In This Episode You’ll Learn:
- Different ways The Story can be used in making disciples.
- Why even “mature” Christians need to learn The Story.
- The transformation that takes place when we learn the full Story of God.
- The difference between knowing a lot about the Bible and knowing God’s Story.
From this episode:
“Christians don’t really know the Bible that well. Often when people first hear about taking disciples through the Bible in a narrative and dialogical manner, it sounds like it’s something only for kids or those who have little to no Bible knowledge. Not true! While our traditional Bible studies and preaching may teach folks a lot about the Bible at a head knowledge level, going through the Story chronologically in narrative form captures their hearts in a way they have never experienced.”
Each week the Big 3 will give you immediate action steps to get you started.
Download today’s BIG 3 right now. Read and think over them again later. You might even want to share them with others…
Thanks for Listening!
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Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
Coaching with Caesar and Tina in discipleship and missional living.
Discipleship and Missional Resources
Transcript
As we glorify God and show the world what he's like and as a community, as the church.
Caesar Kalinowski:We get to do the exact same thing.
Caesar Kalinowski:In fact not get to, but I think that's our sort of job.
Caesar Kalinowski:One is we pursue people in relationships mm-hmm.
Caesar Kalinowski:Of trust so that we can sort of invite 'em to a place at the table at dad's table that they would get to see that Dad's exactly this way, just like Jesus says, I only say what I've heard the father say.
Caesar Kalinowski:I only do what I've seen my father do.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's us.
Caesar Kalinowski:We get to do that now.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's our brother Jesus.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's beautiful.
Caesar Kalinowski:Right.
Caesar Kalinowski:Beautiful.
Caesar Kalinowski:And Jesus never said nor does.
Caesar Kalinowski:Are we ever commanded, you know, go out.
Caesar Kalinowski:And pursue people in relationships of knowledge acquisition.
Caesar Kalinowski:Right.
Caesar Kalinowski:You know, make sure that they, they get all the knowledge about the Bible and the history of the Bible jammed into their heads.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's like, you know, we see him consistently pursuing people and their hearts and their unbelief and their fear.
Caesar Kalinowski:And like when he says through the Pharisees, Hey, when they teach you, listen to what they say, but don't follow their examples cuz they don't actually live out any of this.
Announcer:Welcome to the Everyday Disciple Podcast, where you'll learn how to live with greater intentionality and an integrated faith that naturally fits into every area of life.
Announcer:In other words, discipleship as a lifestyle.
Announcer:This is the stuff your parents, pastors and seminary professors probably forgot to tell you.
Announcer:And now here's your host, Caesar Kalinowski.
Caesar Kalinowski:All right.
Caesar Kalinowski:How you doing today?
Caesar Kalinowski:Good to be back with you as always, loving it.
Caesar Kalinowski:Love doing the podcast.
Caesar Kalinowski:It really is one of my absolute favorite things.
Caesar Kalinowski:We're, uh, six and a half years in now, at least, depending on when you're hearing this, coming up on seven every Monday.
Caesar Kalinowski:Can't even believe it.
Caesar Kalinowski:So thanks for being here.
Caesar Kalinowski:Thanks for listening.
Caesar Kalinowski:I sure hope you're sharing this out and, uh, helping other people find the podcast.
Caesar Kalinowski:All the statistics say that the number one way.
Caesar Kalinowski:People discover new podcasts who are podcast listeners, is a friend tells 'em about it or asks 'em, Hey, have you heard this?
Caesar Kalinowski:Or they send a link.
Caesar Kalinowski:And I know for us that's been true as well.
Caesar Kalinowski:Now I have a favorite to ask if you happen to listen on an Apple device.
Caesar Kalinowski:So you're listening to the podcast on Apple Podcast.
Caesar Kalinowski:I think it used to be called iTunes.
Caesar Kalinowski:We are at 195 reviews.
Caesar Kalinowski:I would love to see that.
Caesar Kalinowski:Get to 200 this week.
Caesar Kalinowski:What do you think?
Caesar Kalinowski:Have you left a review ever or lately?
Caesar Kalinowski:And would you bless me?
Caesar Kalinowski:Just do me the favor of stopping for a moment, figuring out how to leave a review, leave some stars and just say whatever you think about the show.
Caesar Kalinowski:Hopefully it's nice.
Caesar Kalinowski:Hopefully you're liking it, and that helps other people as well.
Caesar Kalinowski:But there's also these algorithms and things that.
Caesar Kalinowski:Apple and the podcast world, that's all working.
Caesar Kalinowski:And the more reviews you get and certain benchmarks, like 200 and all, they make it more available and that helps.
Caesar Kalinowski:So I would love to see this week, it would make my week, if we can get five of y'all at least.
Caesar Kalinowski:Maybe, maybe we'll take it even further.
Caesar Kalinowski:But, uh, get in there.
Caesar Kalinowski:Just take a minute.
Caesar Kalinowski:Would you do that for me?
Caesar Kalinowski:It won't even probably be a minute.
Caesar Kalinowski:I would love it.
Caesar Kalinowski:Okay.
Caesar Kalinowski:And make sure while you're in there you subscribe as well.
Caesar Kalinowski:So that you never miss an episode again.
Caesar Kalinowski:We do it every Monday over six and a half years now.
Caesar Kalinowski:Loving it.
Caesar Kalinowski:By the way, I also wanna mention something that I think you'll find to be cool.
Caesar Kalinowski:The sponsor for this podcast, missio publishing.com, who publishes the Gospel Primer and Tangible Kingdom Primer, and a whole bunch of other really cool Missional tools and resources.
Caesar Kalinowski:They have a new book coming out next month.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's called Made for More Being Disciples, making Disciples.
Caesar Kalinowski:I have seen it and even helped edit it just a bit and it's really pretty great.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's a six week study, meant to be done with others and it's very robust discipling and there's a lot of journaling and things.
Caesar Kalinowski:I am really impressed with it.
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Caesar Kalinowski:It was written by Dr.
Caesar Kalinowski:Kent Engle, who's kind of a big deal down at Southeastern and Steve Cone, who's authored many books on leadership and discipleship.
Caesar Kalinowski:That is coming out next month.
Caesar Kalinowski:I'll tell you more probably when that hits, and I'll probably have them on.
Caesar Kalinowski:But check out that book and all the other really cool Missional books and resources@missiopublishing.com.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's Missio Publishing, M I S S I O, missio publishing.com.
Caesar Kalinowski:I'm sure you'll be glad you did.
Caesar Kalinowski:Thanks.
Caesar Kalinowski:Now today on the podcast, you're gonna hear a conversation I had with Tim Brower.
Caesar Kalinowski:I've known Tim for several years now.
Caesar Kalinowski:Tina and I coached him and his wife for several years and other people in their community as well.
Caesar Kalinowski:We still are doing that, and Tim and Anna are the real deal when it comes to discipleship as a lifestyle.
Caesar Kalinowski:They're church leaders.
Caesar Kalinowski:They planted a Missional, Community based church.
Caesar Kalinowski:They really are serious about making disciples and they love it.
Caesar Kalinowski:And I'm gonna let you hear a conversation I had with Tim at his home.
Caesar Kalinowski:When I was there visiting.
Caesar Kalinowski:I was visiting Tim and Anna and their leaders.
Caesar Kalinowski:I was there to give them some training on how to most effectively lead folks believers and not yet believers through the story of God in community.
Caesar Kalinowski:You're gonna hear a lot more about how that works and all that.
Caesar Kalinowski:Now, the sound of the audio on this conversation, it's a little different than listening to me right now.
Caesar Kalinowski:I'm in the studio because Tim and I were sitting in his living room talking.
Caesar Kalinowski:But it's clear and it's a very interesting story of how they are using the story of God, which is narrative and dialogical chronological Bible teaching.
Caesar Kalinowski:With their church and neighbors as an integral part of their Disciple making.
Caesar Kalinowski:I'll be back after our conversation to give you some additional thoughts and some free resources to help you get started using the story of God in your community.
Caesar Kalinowski:Take a listen.
Caesar Kalinowski:You'll love this.
Caesar Kalinowski:I'm here with my buddy Tim Brower, who's the pastor.
Caesar Kalinowski:Here in Statesville, North Carolina, the Oaks Church, him and his wife Anna, they planted a church How many years ago now?
Caesar Kalinowski:Almost 10 years.
Caesar Kalinowski:Wow.
Caesar Kalinowski:I guess we can't call a church plant anymore, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:That's right.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's right.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's just a church and we are here gonna talk about his experience of doing the story of God in community, or the story formed way in community with others.
Caesar Kalinowski:He's done that before.
Caesar Kalinowski:But I'm actually here on the ground with Tim and Anna in their home, which is awesome.
Caesar Kalinowski:And I was here this weekend doing the story of God fast track training for Tim and, and Anna and a bunch of their other leaders here in their church and some others from other communities as well.
Caesar Kalinowski:Getting them a, a fast track experience of the story of God.
Caesar Kalinowski:We did the whole story art in about six, six and a half, seven hours.
Caesar Kalinowski:It was quick.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah, it it's moving right Time feels like it goes like that, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:It's really, and so it's, uh, just like in the training, it's, it's the story narratives and then we dialogue.
Caesar Kalinowski:So little three, four minute stories.
Caesar Kalinowski:Chronologically in scripture, but then we sat and we discussed it, you know, kind of at length actually, you know, but we move it pretty quickly and the fast track doesn't go through every story that's found in the story form way.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's a training tool that we use to train people and show them and kind give them an example of what it's like to do the story.
Caesar Kalinowski:So we just did that.
Caesar Kalinowski:We just finished that up here couple hours ago.
Caesar Kalinowski:We started on Friday night.
Caesar Kalinowski:Did two and a half, three hours, something like that, a story.
Caesar Kalinowski:Then we came back, had some breakfast this morning together, uh, about a dozen or so, few of us more maybe, and, uh, we went through the rest of it.
Caesar Kalinowski:So we kind of do a fast track arc from Genesis to Revelation in about six, seven hours.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:So how was your experience that, what'd you, what'd you think of that?
Tim Brower:Well, it, it was, it was fast.
Tim Brower:It was interesting, I think seeing the flow and fluidity of it over.
Tim Brower:Just the weekend was a lot different than going over it for 10 weeks.
Tim Brower:Yeah.
Tim Brower:So this was really succinct
Caesar Kalinowski:When you did it in the past, how many weeks do you think it actually took?
Caesar Kalinowski:Because the Storyformed Way is technically a 10 weeks set of stories where you do two stories a night with dialogue and you know, an hour and a half, two hours per evening ish.
Caesar Kalinowski:Right.
Caesar Kalinowski:Depending on how you do it.
Caesar Kalinowski:How many weeks did it actually take you then?
Tim Brower:So we spent about 12 weeks total.
Tim Brower:Uh, we did a welcome week where we just got to know each other, hung out eight eight of you, and then we did 11 weeks in the story.
Caesar Kalinowski:Okay.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's pretty, that's pretty cruising.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's pretty getting through it cuz there again, it's, it's technically a 10 week story, but I've just found some weeks, you know, you got, when you're trying to do two narratives a week, uh, you go deep, but all of a sudden you're running outta time.
Caesar Kalinowski:So that was good.
Caesar Kalinowski:Ultimately, how did that go for you in community?
Caesar Kalinowski:How many people did you do the story with?
Caesar Kalinowski:In your, in your home, in your original community?
Caesar Kalinowski:So
Tim Brower:we started with 10, and then one couple moved about halfway through.
Tim Brower:Yeah.
Tim Brower:So we ended up with eight.
Tim Brower:It was also during Covid, so we were having to do a few on Zoom.
Tim Brower:Okay.
Tim Brower:But we ended up with.
Tim Brower:Eight of us finishing the story.
Tim Brower:Um, there was a, a nonbeliever that came and she has come to Christ and yeah, that was really awesome,
Caesar Kalinowski:powerful, that
Tim Brower:man.
Tim Brower:And then another neighbor down the street that, uh, that husband and wife came as
Caesar Kalinowski:well.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's awesome.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah, that was good.
Caesar Kalinowski:And, and that's what we always tell people.
Caesar Kalinowski:We say, you know, pray in some not yet believing friends, People of Peace, some neighbors, and trust God for what happens.
Caesar Kalinowski:And that's so powerful.
Caesar Kalinowski:How, what do you find different?
Caesar Kalinowski:About not doing it just as a holy huddle, but like when you have people who wrote, they really don't know the Bible.
Caesar Kalinowski:They not, they don't know the story or they don't like Christians.
Caesar Kalinowski:We think we know the story.
Caesar Kalinowski:What if, what, you know, what do you find different about doing it or the value of doing it in like a mixed group, so to speak that way?
Caesar Kalinowski:Well, I think the,
Tim Brower:the answers were a whole lot different than just
Caesar Kalinowski:the churchy.
Caesar Kalinowski:They sure are answers.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah, they sure are.
Caesar Kalinowski:And
Tim Brower:um, just the, the way they would question things, the.
Tim Brower:The thought process from someone who didn't grow up in church and hasn't had any background, they really were learning the story as it went.
Tim Brower:Right.
Tim Brower:So there
Caesar Kalinowski:was no jumping ahead.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah, I, I've done the story many, many times in community, always mixed where there's believers, not yet believers, and I've done where it's more, uh, more not believers, not yet believers than believers.
Caesar Kalinowski:And I find not only do they, like you said, kinda ask a lot of different questions.
Caesar Kalinowski:They're really trying to put together the story.
Caesar Kalinowski:I.
Caesar Kalinowski:But they're sort of taking it as it comes.
Caesar Kalinowski:You know, they're not, they're not trying to do that switch.
Caesar Kalinowski:Like in, as Christians we're trying to do that thing in our brain, like, what did I think that meant?
Caesar Kalinowski:And I heard this before, but that's not how we, wow, this seems different, you know, and all that.
Caesar Kalinowski:They're just taking it purely.
Caesar Kalinowski:Um, but I also found that we tend to learn more as Christians with not yet believers because the purity of their questions and their heart responses and watching their own revelations as sort of light of the Gospel turns on it, sort of reminds us of it, or shows us.
Caesar Kalinowski:The story or the Gospel in a new light.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:Did you find anything similar to that?
Caesar Kalinowski:Well, I
Tim Brower:think hearing the, the Gospel message and hearing that, her response being, it's too good to be true.
Tim Brower:Oh, was really, you know, eye-opening and wonderful to hear and too good because it is
Caesar Kalinowski:too good to be true.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah, that's right.
Caesar Kalinowski:Did you do it just adults or did you also have kids or teens or what was the makeup and how did that go?
Caesar Kalinowski:It
Tim Brower:was.
Tim Brower:All adults.
Tim Brower:They're my daughter views 13,
Caesar Kalinowski:also participate.
Caesar Kalinowski:Okay.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:She was here with us this weekend.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:Awesome.
Caesar Kalinowski:And what were, what did you think were some of your biggest challenges to doing the story formed way in community?
Caesar Kalinowski:That was the first time you had gone through it, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:It was,
Tim Brower:um, my biggest challenge was trying to keep it into the story
Caesar Kalinowski:without going outside of, I mean, people trying to do the rabbit trail thing.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:And yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah, for sure.
Caesar Kalinowski:Uh,
Tim Brower:it's difficult when, you know, Outside information to not bring that in.
Tim Brower:Yeah.
Tim Brower:And so that was, that was a challenge for me in leading it.
Tim Brower:And it was also a challenge to draw people back into the story and remind them Yeah.
Tim Brower:You know, let's not, go ahead.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:People do tend to wanna leap ahead, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:Because they're so, we're so angst filled to make sure we get the right answer.
Caesar Kalinowski:Mm-hmm.
Caesar Kalinowski:We're kind of taught that as Christian.
Caesar Kalinowski:So then we're leaping ahead and we had a little of that in the training this weekend as well.
Caesar Kalinowski:There's, you know, certain personality types just really have a hard time not jumping ahead and sort of, you know, ruining the story, you know, as it were
Tim Brower:well.
Tim Brower:The other, the other challenge that I thought was with people when they ask questions, I didn't necessarily, I was giving more of a canned answer that was in the outline versus.
Tim Brower:Just allowing the conversation and trusting the spirit to, yeah, to lead the, to lead the conversation.
Tim Brower:Uh, simply.
Tim Brower:I think it was because I hadn't done it before.
Tim Brower:It sounds
Caesar Kalinowski:a little more, yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:Which I'll just tell you, it's pretty common.
Caesar Kalinowski:We're kind of trained to do that.
Caesar Kalinowski:Right.
Caesar Kalinowski:And you're, when you're looking at an outline, it's giving suggested answers or this is the kind of stuff you're looking for.
Caesar Kalinowski:We get nervous and we feel like, oh, no one's answering.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's been like a nanosecond.
Caesar Kalinowski:But it feels like, oh my gosh, no one's, you know, it feels like it's been really long time, but second, but it's not been seconds.
Caesar Kalinowski:Right?
Caesar Kalinowski:Um, and we really, as you know, hopefully I modeled well for you in the training.
Caesar Kalinowski:The goal isn't to get any answers.
Caesar Kalinowski:The goal is to guide the discussion back to the story so that people, as a community, we're digging out the truth of the Gospel and the story and who, who's God and what do we see him doing and why we see Jesus.
Caesar Kalinowski:Being this way or doing this.
Caesar Kalinowski:Where have we seen that before?
Caesar Kalinowski:Oh, God's done that throughout the story over and over.
Caesar Kalinowski:Mm-hmm.
Caesar Kalinowski:We don't wanna be saying that too much.
Caesar Kalinowski:Right.
Caesar Kalinowski:Right.
Caesar Kalinowski:And that's hard.
Caesar Kalinowski:We're probably like, well, someone's gotta teach.
Caesar Kalinowski:Really this is a process.
Caesar Kalinowski:Process of the Holy Spirit guide in teaching.
Caesar Kalinowski:Well that I,
Tim Brower:I felt like we learned that this weekend, and that's gonna be my biggest take away, I think from the weekend, is trusting that God brought those people together, were in it and.
Tim Brower:The discussion's gonna, yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:So do you feel, do you feel that even having generally people get like the story God training experience, like we just did, they usually get it before they try, you know, uh, if they get it at all.
Caesar Kalinowski:Right.
Caesar Kalinowski:Oftentimes, uh, people just, you know, they're never gonna have.
Caesar Kalinowski:The opportunity or the ability for me to come in and do that training, which I'm, I'm open to, but it doesn't always work for everybody in the whole world.
Caesar Kalinowski:So I just encourage you to get going.
Caesar Kalinowski:Right.
Caesar Kalinowski:Start, get going, suck forward, you know, do your best.
Caesar Kalinowski:But you, you did it a way to go and, and you had great results.
Caesar Kalinowski:May you had a friend come to faith, praise God.
Caesar Kalinowski:Um, but, What did you find having done it already?
Caesar Kalinowski:Now you're watching, you know, the guy who wrote some of this stuff, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:You know, you're watching me do it.
Caesar Kalinowski:What did you know?
Caesar Kalinowski:What did you find differently other than like we just talked about the driving people back.
Caesar Kalinowski:Was there a pace difference or some of the nuance?
Caesar Kalinowski:And I'm not looking for you to say, oh, you do it so good.
Caesar Kalinowski:I'm not looking for that.
Caesar Kalinowski:But what are some of the things, having already done it where you go, oh, you know, I had a misconception of what's going on.
Caesar Kalinowski:I'm gonna tweak my approach in this area, or that.
Caesar Kalinowski:Any, any other thoughts on that?
Caesar Kalinowski:I think.
Caesar Kalinowski:Going back
Tim Brower:into those former stories you did that every, every news story we were going back and seeing how, how is that pattern,
Caesar Kalinowski:trying to connect those dots.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:So I didn't do that very well, uh, the first time.
Tim Brower:And then also just looking for the other patterns that were over and over again throughout the, the story, um, was very
Caesar Kalinowski:helpful to you.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:To hear what are some of those patterns that you think were really key that came out and you're really glad they did.
Caesar Kalinowski:And I think they're gonna be sticky now, you know, sticky to people's hearts.
Caesar Kalinowski:What are some of the other patterns you noticed somehow?
Caesar Kalinowski:The story of God.
Caesar Kalinowski:I think the,
Tim Brower:um, the continued justice and mercy of God that we saw throughout the whole
Caesar Kalinowski:story.
Caesar Kalinowski:Seeing his justice right, always deals with sin and rebellion.
Caesar Kalinowski:He'll never allow it to remain, but it's always coupled with his mercy.
Caesar Kalinowski:Powerful.
Caesar Kalinowski:We don't see that in the world.
Caesar Kalinowski:We see it over and over and over in the story again and
Tim Brower:seeing his pursuit of us.
Caesar Kalinowski:People the whole time,
Tim Brower:how much he loves this, how much he wants a relationship.
Tim Brower:he'll come for us, was key.
Tim Brower:And
Caesar Kalinowski:you see
Tim Brower:that at certain spots, but it's really in the whole story.
Caesar Kalinowski:It really is.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's from, it's from the soon there's, even before the fall, God is coming and he's meeting with Adam and Eve daily, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:It says in the cool of the day, he's pursuing that relationship of trust with them.
Caesar Kalinowski:That really is what the story kind of continues with.
Caesar Kalinowski:And that, you know what that does for me?
Caesar Kalinowski:We talked a little bit about this, you know, as a community today as we were doing the story, is that as we glorify God and show the world what he's like and as a community, as the church, We get to do the exact same thing.
Caesar Kalinowski:In fact, not get to, but I think that's our sort of job.
Caesar Kalinowski:One is we pursue people in relationships mm-hmm.
Caesar Kalinowski:Of trust so that we can sort of invite 'em to a place at the table at dad's table that they would get to see that dad's exactly this way, just like Jesus says, I only say what I've heard the father say.
Caesar Kalinowski:I only do what I've seen my father do.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's us.
Caesar Kalinowski:We get to do that now.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's our brother Jesus.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's beautiful.
Caesar Kalinowski:Right.
Caesar Kalinowski:Beautiful.
Caesar Kalinowski:And, and just like we talked about in the training.
Caesar Kalinowski:Uh, Jesus never said nor does.
Caesar Kalinowski:Are we ever commanded, you know, go out and pursue people in relationships of knowledge acquisition.
Caesar Kalinowski:Mm-hmm.
Caesar Kalinowski:Right.
Caesar Kalinowski:You know, make sure that they, they get all the knowledge about the Bible and the history of the Bible jammed into their heads.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's like, you know, we see him consistently pursuing people and their hearts and their unbelief and their fear, and.
Caesar Kalinowski:You know, like when he says through the Pharisees, like, Hey, when they teach you, listen to what they say, but don't follow their examples cuz they don't actually live outta any of this.
Caesar Kalinowski:You know?
Caesar Kalinowski:And, and there again, Jesus, in, in a challenging way is pursuing the hearts of, of the Pharisees even, but also the hearts of the people.
Caesar Kalinowski:Cuz like, well they're teaching is right.
Caesar Kalinowski:They don't understand the heart of the father.
Caesar Kalinowski:They're not living this out.
Caesar Kalinowski:They're not pursuing anybody in relationship to trust.
Caesar Kalinowski:They're just heaping, they're heaping burning coals on people, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:They.
Caesar Kalinowski:So, yeah, we don't, we don't wanna be that way.
Caesar Kalinowski:The story really highlights that.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's powerful for me as well.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:I think the
Tim Brower:other thing is God is most interested in our hearts.
Tim Brower:You know, he wants that relationship and
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:He's after, after our hearts.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:You know, trust.
Caesar Kalinowski:Right.
Caesar Kalinowski:And it's not, it's not like a perfect faith he's looking for, or some perfect obedience, cuz.
Caesar Kalinowski:We see over and over characters in the Bible that God graces, like Noah, Abraham, you know, all, everybody over and over.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's like sinless.
Caesar Kalinowski:Nope.
Caesar Kalinowski:Perfect faith.
Caesar Kalinowski:Nope.
Caesar Kalinowski:You know, always trusting God.
Caesar Kalinowski:Nope.
Caesar Kalinowski:And yet God blesses them.
Caesar Kalinowski:He pursues them, blesses them.
Caesar Kalinowski:When they don't keep coveted, they're not faithful.
Caesar Kalinowski:God still faithful.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's what he's pursuing with us as well, his imperfect kids.
Caesar Kalinowski:We get to extend that amount of people.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's beautiful.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's powerful.
Caesar Kalinowski:What, what thoughts would you have now going forward?
Caesar Kalinowski:What are you thinking of doing?
Caesar Kalinowski:Maybe the story, I know part of why we did the training is you and your community, but some of these leaders are planning to do that in their missional communities as well.
Caesar Kalinowski:What are you thinking of?
Caesar Kalinowski:What's your best guess plan?
Caesar Kalinowski:So we are
Tim Brower:hoping with our community to, uh, maybe do it this fall, uh, September October started and go up to, you know, before Thanksgiving or Christmas.
Tim Brower:Yeah.
Tim Brower:But try to have.
Tim Brower:The summer to to continue building some deeper relationships, invite more People of Peace in, and then start
Caesar Kalinowski:it with those, yeah, in the Fall.
Caesar Kalinowski:And that is a perfect timing frame.
Caesar Kalinowski:We have found over and over that in these summer months, we don't take the summer off, right.
Caesar Kalinowski:And the family doesn't take the summer off.
Caesar Kalinowski:In the summer we're sort of breathing out relations relationally.
Caesar Kalinowski:We say like we breathe out and then there's a time of breathing in.
Caesar Kalinowski:And so you're breathing out, people in your community are having barbecues, you're having people over on the deck.
Caesar Kalinowski:You're, you know, maybe you're going kayaking, you're going to the zoo together.
Caesar Kalinowski:Maybe a little vacationing, you're breathing out relationally building trust.
Caesar Kalinowski:You're banking invitation to use that term.
Caesar Kalinowski:And then when, when the fall comes, you're, you're kind of say, okay, that's who God's given us now, and we're gonna, it's taught like, breathe in and we're gonna do the story together and we're gonna go deeper instead of wider.
Caesar Kalinowski:And it's, and else she said, it's pretty important.
Caesar Kalinowski:I'll just.
Caesar Kalinowski:Kinda point out, take note, trying to get the, you know, if you're doing the story in community, getting it done before the holidays hit, it's to your advantage.
Caesar Kalinowski:You can go and sail through them, but you're gonna have a lot of interruptions of, you know, school plays and church programs and family trips and Thanksgiving and then Christmas is coming right away.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's tough sledding, you know, you can do it and you can get through it, but I think it's real wise to try to do what you're doing.
Caesar Kalinowski:Breathe out relationally in all these communities in the summer.
Caesar Kalinowski:Pray for your People of Peace.
Caesar Kalinowski:What's next?
Caesar Kalinowski:Lord?
Caesar Kalinowski:Lord, we wanna invite these folks that you're bringing into our lives to do the story with us.
Caesar Kalinowski:Come, you know, come fall with cooler weather, is hitting, what's next, Lord?
Caesar Kalinowski:So that when we invite 'em, they're gonna say yes and they're gonna do that with us.
Caesar Kalinowski:And then in faith, you get started and, and we, you know, I say this over and over and I wanna get you.
Caesar Kalinowski:See if you agree that, that sometimes though we have fear, like no one's gonna wanna do this, or it's gonna be weird, or everybody's gonna bail or whatever.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's just not the case.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's not what I had found.
Tim Brower:No, we even during Covid when we had to move to some Zoom calls and, and meet outside and social distance and all that, people can eat.
Tim Brower:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:About the worst possible environment, bro.
Caesar Kalinowski:I mean, I'm gonna joke and you, you just flooded right through fires.
Caesar Kalinowski:Brimstone, snow, hail Covid, you know, it's like, that's crazy.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:People are, they get so it's so salty.
Caesar Kalinowski:You know, the story, it's like chips, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:You know, it's so salty.
Caesar Kalinowski:People just wanna get going, you know, I, they wanna keep going, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:Like, tell me more, tell me no more of the story.
Caesar Kalinowski:Um, something else that was real fun was watching the folks that we were doing the training with.
Caesar Kalinowski:Now, these are all great folks, okay?
Caesar Kalinowski:You had a great bunch of people, but, you know, at first it's, it's a little different.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's a little new, even though it's kind of the ancient way of teaching scripture.
Caesar Kalinowski:And you can see there's a little bit of body language.
Caesar Kalinowski:You know, people are a little bit like this and they're a little reticent to answer.
Caesar Kalinowski:But then around the third story, fourth story, you see people kind of softening, starting to lean in a little bit to the story.
Caesar Kalinowski:Mm-hmm.
Caesar Kalinowski:Did you notice
Tim Brower:that?
Tim Brower:Yeah.
Tim Brower:During the flood story, I felt like people really, you know, start giving.
Tim Brower:Yeah.
Tim Brower:Which better, you know, more involved
Caesar Kalinowski:answers and Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:More of their own heart versus what's the right answer?
Caesar Kalinowski:What's my Christian answer I'm supposed to give?
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:Sounds was good.
Caesar Kalinowski:The other thing that's really key is that when you do the story in community, both with.
Caesar Kalinowski:You're believing friends, neighbors, people, you're training Christians, you're discipling, but also not yet believing People of Peace is you start to notice a pattern of their answers, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:Mm-hmm.
Caesar Kalinowski:Any, without giving away too much or treat out your community, and maybe most of 'em probably won't see this, but, um, did you notice any patterns of answers coming from folks?
Caesar Kalinowski:You go, oh, there's some insight there into maybe who they see God as, or, uh, what the law's about, or any of, you know, just any of that, any, any patterns you notice.
Caesar Kalinowski:I don't know.
Caesar Kalinowski:Did you notice
Tim Brower:that?
Tim Brower:I, I
Caesar Kalinowski:know you did.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:Um, I, I didn't, but I don't
Tim Brower:know.
Tim Brower:I, I think, I think there were some that were interested a lot in knowing good and evil and, and talking about how to manage that.
Tim Brower:Go.
Tim Brower:We kept talking about the tree.
Tim Brower:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:And so see earlier on, until things start to soften and you realize, wait a minute, this story's about something different.
Caesar Kalinowski:There is a, there's certain folks, right, where their answers are like, well, yeah, but there's a right thing, there's a wrong thing, but well, you know, but we're called to obedience.
Caesar Kalinowski:You know, like, you feel that, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:And you realize, okay.
Caesar Kalinowski:There's still some residual or some people more mm-hmm.
Caesar Kalinowski:Of our heart going, there's a right and a wrong, and there's the right answer, there's the wrong answer.
Caesar Kalinowski:That there's a performance aspect to our faith.
Caesar Kalinowski:Mm-hmm.
Caesar Kalinowski:And, and then you could see as people began to see God's pursuit of some pretty wrong people mm-hmm.
Caesar Kalinowski:And his grace and his justice and his mercy combined, it starts to laying down our hearts too.
Caesar Kalinowski:And you see people soft a little bit like, oh.
Caesar Kalinowski:It really, it really isn't about getting it perfect.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's about God and his grace and mercy so big and his love for us as kids.
Caesar Kalinowski:And you set to see that soften, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:That was,
Tim Brower:that was good.
Tim Brower:Uh, there was one in particular that, uh, was talking about family member and you just, I, I think deal checking all the boxes, but there's no relationship and there's no trust.
Tim Brower:Yeah.
Tim Brower:And yeah, it was, it was cool to see.
Tim Brower:Kind of a light
Caesar Kalinowski:click for sure.
Caesar Kalinowski:And a whole different way they wanna be now with this family member.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:Right.
Caesar Kalinowski:In light of how God is in the story.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:You know?
Caesar Kalinowski:You know how that can never happen for some people brother, or it could take a lifetime of going to church and sitting in silence, listening the sermons and raising our hands and we never get that.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:That is so powerful.
Caesar Kalinowski:The fact that the story of God can do that in short order in a weekend or over a handful of weeks still blows my mind after all these years of dealing it.
Caesar Kalinowski:It really does.
Caesar Kalinowski:Any, any advice you give to folks who, you know, maybe they're getting the training, they're listening to what I'm saying about the power and the importance of doing story.
Caesar Kalinowski:Um, any thoughts you give people encouragement to, to get started?
Caesar Kalinowski:You know, and Yeah.
Tim Brower:I, I think just try it.
Tim Brower:It's, it, it's worth, it's worth the time.
Tim Brower:It's worth the relationships.
Tim Brower:Um, even if you are not great at it, uh, to, to give it a shot and go and, um, trust the spirit, I think.
Tim Brower:Praying and trusting the spirit that he has brought who needs to be there together.
Tim Brower:And also that he's gonna give the answers.
Tim Brower:Yeah.
Tim Brower:You know, he's gonna lead the,
Caesar Kalinowski:the discussion.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:So we really did experience, and, and people came up to me and said this, um, after the training, like.
Caesar Kalinowski:Like, I bet you'd done this.
Caesar Kalinowski:A lot of times they're like, yeah, a lot, hundred or hundreds, you know?
Caesar Kalinowski:Um, but I bet like it sounded like there was new answers and new insights coming out of people that you'd never heard before.
Caesar Kalinowski:Absolutely.
Caesar Kalinowski:Because the word of God is living and active.
Caesar Kalinowski:Do we believe that?
Caesar Kalinowski:Do we believe it?
Caesar Kalinowski:Well, we experienced it during training again, and you will too during the story.
Caesar Kalinowski:You know, Tim, thank you so much, brother, for just sharing your heart and, and, and your home and getting to do this training together.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah, it's great.
Caesar Kalinowski:Your encouragement for people.
Caesar Kalinowski:Keep doing the story.
Caesar Kalinowski:Huh?
Caesar Kalinowski:Keep doing the story.
Caesar Kalinowski:Get get started.
Caesar Kalinowski:We always say, you know, first time you do it we'll be great.
Caesar Kalinowski:It'll still be the best Bible study training like that you've ever done in your life.
Caesar Kalinowski:The second time you do it, it won't be like twice as good.
Caesar Kalinowski:It'll be infinitely better because.
Caesar Kalinowski:Your confidence will come, you know, and, and your fear of man and your performance will come down.
Caesar Kalinowski:So just get started, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:Thanks again, Tim.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:Man, I love Tim and Anna and their whole community.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's been such a blessing for Tina and I to work with them.
Caesar Kalinowski:They are, like I said, at the front of the podcast, they're the real deal and they have such a heart for people and love Jesus and they, they really embrace discipleship as a lifestyle and getting to coach them and be with them and see them grow in their gospel fluency and all that.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's such a blessing and it's something that, oh, it really turns our crank to see people reproducing the things they're learning.
Caesar Kalinowski:And then seeing tons and tons of fruit.
Caesar Kalinowski:Oh, I love it.
Caesar Kalinowski:If you're interested in learning a full framework for discipleship and mission, which includes training on using the story of God in your community.
Caesar Kalinowski:Which, by the way, is a huge part of your growing gospel fluency.
Caesar Kalinowski:Let's set up a discovery call to get you an I on a Zoom call.
Caesar Kalinowski:Get to know each other better.
Caesar Kalinowski:I can tell you all about our everyday Disciple makers coaching experience that we offer, and, uh, see if it might be something that would help you accomplish your Disciple making goals, either as a pastor or as a community leader, or just as a family.
Caesar Kalinowski:All right.
Caesar Kalinowski:You can set that discovery call up by going to everyday Disciple dot com slash discovery.
Caesar Kalinowski:Now I wanna leave you with the big three takeaways from today's topic.
Caesar Kalinowski:If nothing else, you don't wanna miss these.
Caesar Kalinowski:And by the way, you can always get a printable PDF of the week's big three as a free download by going to everyday Disciple dot com slash big three.
Caesar Kalinowski:And I'm gonna put a link.
Caesar Kalinowski:For you to get, uh, the free story of God narratives and all the questions that go with it, everything you need in the big three for you as well.
Caesar Kalinowski:Now, here's something important too.
Caesar Kalinowski:Today's big three is, it's Big three coming out of our conversation with Tim, but it is also sort of three things I don't want you to miss when it comes to thinking about using narrative and dialogue in teaching the story of God, teaching the word.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's a big part of discipleship.
Caesar Kalinowski:So here's the big three for this week.
Caesar Kalinowski:Number one, what we believe about God and what he is like will ultimately determine what we believe about ourselves and how life works.
Caesar Kalinowski:And this is why it's so important that we know and understand and believe, and help others believe God's big story.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's not enough to just know a lot of stuff about God in the Bible.
Caesar Kalinowski:We need to do all that we can to understand and experience our good father's loving pursuit.
Caesar Kalinowski:Of us and our neighbors and our friends as seen throughout all of scripture throughout the whole story, and we need to help others do that.
Caesar Kalinowski:Number two, Christians don't really know the Bible that well.
Caesar Kalinowski:Maybe that sounds provocative, but often I found that when people first hear about taking disciples through the Bible in a narrative and dialogical manner, It sounds to them like it's something only for kids or those who have little to no Bible knowledge.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's not true.
Caesar Kalinowski:We have consistently found that even the super seasoned saints, there's a lot of ASINs, super seasoned saints, and the highly educated Christians that we've worked with and are part of our communities, they're blown away by the story of God.
Caesar Kalinowski:While our traditional Bible studies and preaching may teach folks a lot about the Bible, At a head knowledge level, going through the story chronologically in narrative form captures hearts in a way that they'd never experienced.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah, so don't discount the discipling of the Saints, but it's not just for Christians.
Caesar Kalinowski:This is for everybody powerful.
Caesar Kalinowski:And number three, let me encourage you to start to live a story formed life.
Caesar Kalinowski:Maybe you've heard me use that term before story formed.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's one of the six discipleship rhythms.
Caesar Kalinowski:Get to know the overarching themes and story of the Bible.
Caesar Kalinowski:Get to know the stories of those in your community, or circle of close friends.
Caesar Kalinowski:Know each other's stories well enough to know where you're still living with unbelief in the Gospel.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's what discipleship is, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:You hear me say it all the time, helping people move from unbelief to belief in light of the Gospel in connection to every part of life.
Caesar Kalinowski:So you gotta get to know each other's stories that well do.
Caesar Kalinowski:You spend time getting to know your neighbor's stories and sharing your stories with them?
Caesar Kalinowski:You get to and please invite others into God's story Plan to go through the story formed way with your community and the People of Peace that are in your life soon.
Caesar Kalinowski:And again, you can get the big three this week, and there'll be a link to the story materials in there.
Caesar Kalinowski:Or if you just want those, you can go to everyday Disciple dot com slash story.
Caesar Kalinowski:All right.
Caesar Kalinowski:I really want you to start doing this.
Caesar Kalinowski:It is mind blowing, and I'll tell you the, I don't even know.
Caesar Kalinowski:Thousands, tens of thousands of people have gone through this story materials and it's life changing.
Caesar Kalinowski:I've done the story in community hundreds of times and all over the world.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's nuts.
Caesar Kalinowski:So anyway, that's it for today.
Caesar Kalinowski:I hope you were encouraged by Tim's experiences doing this story of God and community.
Caesar Kalinowski:That could be you too.
Caesar Kalinowski:I sure hope so.
Caesar Kalinowski:If you need help getting started, let's set up that discovery call and we can talk about it.
Caesar Kalinowski:Just go to everyday Disciple dot com slash discovery and we'll set that right up.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's real easy.
Caesar Kalinowski:Join me next week.
Caesar Kalinowski:I'll begin part one of a two-part series on understanding and communicating both how and why the Gospel saves us.
Caesar Kalinowski:Oh, it's those two parts together that changes everything.
Caesar Kalinowski:The how and the why.
Caesar Kalinowski:You'll love how practical and how everyday language this all can sound.
Caesar Kalinowski:I promise it really will.
Caesar Kalinowski:I hope you'll join me for that.
Caesar Kalinowski:I'll talk to you soon.
Announcer:Thanks for joining us today.
Announcer:For more information on this show and to get loads of free discipleship resources, visit everyday Disciple dot com and remember, you really can live with the spiritual freedom and relational peace that Jesus promised every day.